I'm bumping this back up to the top for people who may have missed it the first time around. - JS

Welcome to this year’s princetonbasketball.com fundraising message. We’re gearing up for covering another season of Princeton Tigers basketball!

Over the past twelve years princetonbasketball.com has continued to evolve. As the princetonbasketball.com network has grown, we’ve brought our donors more content each season to keep them informed about the extended Princeton basketball family and the Ivy League.

First, the straight-up boasting. princetonbasketball.com has covered the last ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN CONSECUTIVE IVY LEAGUE GAMES in person. There is only one individual who can say they have seen each of these 127 conference games: princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon. What other reporter or web site can say that? None. We’ve also been on-hand for every Princeton postseason game since 1983.

With princetonbasketball.com you’re reading a source you can count on for consistent, knowledgeable coverage that puts current events in a historical context.

princetonbasketball.com continues to be your best location for keeping track of the Tigers that many of you know as your sons, brothers and grandsons, your friends and your classmates.

If you have given to the site in the past, I hope you will renew for another season! Old memberships will expire on October 1st. Don’t get locked out of your old account.

I understand first-hand that times are tight and you may be reluctant to sign up for our subscription content. As the editor of this site, all I can do is promise you, as a fan of Princeton, the Ivy League and/or one of the many schools we report on, that I will work tirelessly to bring you the most comprehensive news and insight available. I'll cover more Princeton games in person than any other beat reporter. I'll stay up late crunching numbers and doing research to answer your statistical questions. I'll go see recruits in person to provide first-hand observations on their skill sets. I'll spend hours cutting audio and editing photographs to bring you exclusive multimedia content all year long. I'll even make restaurant recommendations and hotel suggestions off-site (if asked). For less than $1/game you're going to get thorough coverage of the entire Carril Cradle of coaches.

What does your donation go towards? Well, in 2008-2009 princetonbasketball.com brought you…

Daily News: Each morning a post appeared on the site with links to that day’s articles from local and national papers. If it has been published on-line, we’ve found the article and passed it along to you. Since last year and now we wrote 482 posts - an average of more than one a day and sixty more than in 07-08! March 2009 was our most prolific month ever with a site-record 79 original posts.

Premium Postgame Content: This past season princetonbasketball.com provided you exclusive on-site postgame audio from Coach Johnson and select players after all twenty-seven of last season’s games, including all fourteen Ivy contests. This is information that was not available anywhere else. You could also read detailed same-night recaps of all of the season’s games, along with full box scores and cumulative team and player statistics. We’re planning to cover a minimum of 27 of this season’s games in person, with statistical previews for each opponent on game day.

Weekly Interviews with Coach Johnson: princetonbasketball.com produced a weekly interview program that featured a new in-depth discussion with Coach Johnson fifteen times over the course of the season, looking back at the previous week’s games, previewing upcoming contests and talking about the state of Princeton basketball. This show also offered you a forum to ask Coach Johnson your questions. We look forward to taping similar interviews again this season.

Exclusive Audio: In addition to postgame interviews and our weekly interviews with Coach Johnson, princetonbasketball.com also had bonus streams of Coach Johnson's portion of the Ivy League's preseason and midseason media teleconferences plus sideline-to-sideline coverage of Princeton’s annual Media Day available only for our donors. We sat down with Scott Greenman to talk about his experiences in Israel coaching at the Maccabiah Games and for the site's 1000th post, unearthed lost interviews with Pete Carril and Bob Scrabis taped in the days before Princeton's 1989 NCAA game versus Georgetown. Expect similar bonus audio to be available in 2009-10.

Recruiting News: Here at princetonbasketball.com we tracked the incoming Tigers on a daily basis. We provided pictures and video of players you had only heard about, provided quotes from their high school coaches and were able to confirm rumors of commitments long before this news reached print media. We went to see Will Barrett play in person to form our own opinion and wrote observations of two televised games Ian Hummer played in.

Articles: In addition to the daily news, there were numerous interviews and features written for the site. American University assistant coach Mike Brennan talked with us before the Eagles played Villanova in the NCAA Tournament. When Director of Basketball Operations Dan Connelly left the Tigers for Memphis, he had a statement to share with readers of this site. When Lincoln Gunn departed the Princeton program, he had a statement he wanted people to read. We reported on the Princeton JV game against Mercer County and wrote two pieces for Princeton Alumni Weekly, one midway through the Ivy season and one after the season finale against Penn. When one of our favorite Jadwin regulars, Jack Platten, passed away, we brought you his story. We also let you know dates and opponents for five of Princeton’s games this season before the official press release came out.

Seniors On A Stick: We continued this Jadwin Gym tradition for the final home game of the season, honoring last year’s seniors. Did you wave a poster saluting Jason Briggs or Michael Strittmatter? Another princetonbasketball.com production. We also scanned as many old Seniors On A Stick as we could find in our collection from the past two decades.

Carril Court Coverage: I've been proud of few things on this site like I was of the content created around the naming of the basketball court at Jadwin Gym after Coach Carril. Subscribers of princetonbasketball.com read coverage of eight games in nine days, the centerpiece of which was photos from the Carril Court reception, photos from the Carril Court halftime ceremony and audio from a 25:00+ roundtable Q&A with Coach Carril.

Alumni Updates: You’ll always be kept up-to-date on the professional basketball (and baseball) careers of former Tigers through princetonbasketball.com, even those players playing in foreign ports of call. This summer princetonbasketball.com tracked Judson Wallace and Mason Rocca in Italy, Spencer Gloger in Spain and Konrad Wysocki in Germany as well as Sean Gregory's work for Time Magazine - plus Chris Young’s pitching performances with the Padres, Will Venable’s time in Portland before being called up by San Diego and David Blatt’s coaching successes on the international level. In April we went to Citizen's Bank Park to speak with Chris Young and report on the Padres' come-from-behind win over the Phillies.

All in the Family: Not only has princetonbasketball.com covered Princeton and the Ivy League this past season, but we were able to provide extensive information on Coach Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas, Coach Mooney’s Richmond Spiders, Coach Scott’s Denver Pioneers, Coach Robinson's Oregon State Beavers, Coach Carmody’s Northwestern Wildcats and Coach Levy's Mercer County Community College Vikings. princetonbasketball.com will feature games from these teams in our daily news and offer bonus postgame coverage when scheduling allows.

Gameday Photographs: Thanks to your donations, we were able to bring photographer Stephen Goldsmith into the fold three years ago, providing readers with exclusive photographs of the Tigers in action that helped further enhance the Princeton basketball experience for those who were unable to see the games in person. Photo essays were made available after every home game, select road games and the Bill Bradley/Dick Kazmaier "42" retirement reception. Stephen was the only photographer at Jadwin taking pictures of Princeton's Senior Night ceremony and saw his work for princetonbasketball.com featured in Sports Illustrated.

Schedule Sync: We’re the only web site to offer an iCal schedule you can sync with your computer’s calendar that has details on every Princeton, Georgetown, Northwestern, Richmond, Oregon State, MCCC and Denver game. Select which teams you want to follow or subscribe to them all!

Social Networking and New Media: While many web sites and publications have resisted progress, we've fully embraced new forms of communication. This season we held two live chats during the postseason, used Facebook and Twitter as ways to enhance site content and alert you to updates on the site. We listened to your requests, adding the ability to get email updates when people respond to your comments on the site and utilizing an email alert system that informs you when a new post goes live on the site.

From the Vaults: As princetonbasketball covers the present and looks to the future, we made sure that the past was not forgotten. We scanned old schedule cards from over the years, shared an amazing 1990 Recruiting Wrapup, some Jim Nantz Princeton basketball promos, the story of the orange jumpsuits, great photos taken by a band member in the late 1980s/early 1990s and a picture showing the chaos in Indianapolis right after Princeton knocked off UCLA in 1996.

Going the Extra Mile: When readers complained about a lack of scorecards in Jadwin, we made a printable .pdf you could bring to the games. Subscribers in the Boston area were offered discounted admission to the reception Bob Ruxin puts on after the Harvard game. We answered your questions at games and responded in great detail to subscriber observations and comments off-site.

Twelve years in, princetonbasketball.com’s basic level of access continues to remain free, but it costs money for us to operate and manage this web site on a daily basis. To make all of this possible, princetonbasketball.com relies on your donations to cover our expenses of web hosting and reporting on the games we all care about so much. How much you choose to give is up to you. Every dollar helps and is greatly appreciated.

This season princetonbasketball.com continues to expand donor-only content on our web site. All postgame audio, all archived video and all weekly interviews are available only to princetonbasketball.com donors. You also need to be a donor to comment on articles, read full recaps, read full posts, contribute to Q&As and access daily news links.

Anyone making a contribution of $30.00 or more this season is entitled to a season-long password for access to donor-only content. Those of you who have donated since August 1st, 2009 have already had your accounts extended through next September 30, 2010.

Current students can gain access to princetonbasketball.com’s donor-only content at the reduced rate of $15.00 for the season. Contact us directly for this student discount. Renewing now will assure a smooth transition for last year’s donors. You don’t want to miss out on any of the coming season’s premium offerings.

This year, we're adding a special "thank you" for many of our donors. All donors who contribute $50 or more are entitled to an amazing "Prince Ton Basketball" silkscreened t-shirt designed by Bucks County artist Jay McPhillips (pictured at the top of this post). If you attended the Friends of Princeton Basketball event at Reunions, this is the same shirt Coach Johnson was wearing. Just let me know what size shirt you would like!

To sign up on-line and become a new donor using our secure payment portal, click here.

If you are already logged in and want to renew a subscription using your old login/password combination, click here.

Please email us if you are more comfortable paying by check.

Another easy way you can support princetonbasketball.com is by ordering things through Amazon using our referral ID. Start your Amazon search by clicking on one of the links on the right side of our site and a percentage of everything you order will go to the site. You don’t even have to choose one of the items we’re advertising!

I welcome your comments, suggestions and ideas about what you would like to see on princetonbasketball.com in the future.

Being part of this community and the extended Princeton basketball family remains my genuine pleasure.

Is it November yet?

Warmly,

Jon Solomon
princetonbasketball.com